homeofthenutty.comFinn Hudson's burnt grilled cheese appears to have the image of Jesus Christ, which leads to an episode of spiritual debate.

It took three episodes to get it right, but 'Glee' finally produces a high quality episode this season in "Grilled Cheesus."

It was an episode that took on really heavy issues. Kurt Hummel, a glee club member who finally came to terms with his homosexuality and identity last season, nearly loses his father. The heart attack and subsequent coma (from lack of oxygen to brain) of Burt Hummel sets up a tense setting in the glee club, in which members of different religious backgrounds and belief systems come to a standoff.

Glee has always walked the line between comedy and drama, and the writers skillfully weaved this into the episode's central discussion on religion. When Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) makes himself a grilled cheese sandwich, he sees an image of Jesus on the toast.

"When I pulled the sandwich out, I saw the face of God...literally," he said. "I had a made a grilled cheesus."

Throughout the episode, Finn proceeds to ask his grilled cheesus for favors. His wishes center around his ambitions to return as the star of the football team and his desire to move faster physically in his relationship with Rachel. To Finn's surprise, his prayers do come true, leading him to believe he has found "a direct line to God."

To thank Jesus, Finn suggests that they sing songs about him in glee club. Although Will Scheuster is hesitant to head in this direction, he does suggest that there are a lot of songs about religion and spirituality in general.

Glee club member Puck is a bit more skeptical, saying, "It seems to me that spirituality or whatever you want to call it is about enjoying the life that you've been given." He then proceeds to sing Billy Joel's "Only The Good Die Young," a fun number which brings about a glee club dance party even if the vocal performance wasn't Puck's best.

The problem is that Kurt - who had a disagreement with his father right before the heart attack - doesn't want to sing about God because he doesn't believe there is one. He appears defensive, even angry, at the notion that a spiritual being would "make him gay" and then cause his followers to believe that it was a choice made by the individual. Kurt's comments visibly disturb those in the room who do believe in God. Quinn, a devout Christian, yells for Kurt to stop, at which point he leaves and says, "I appreciate your thoughts but I don't want your prayers."

When Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) brings up the notion that the separation of church and state must be enforced, Will says that he was only teaching a lesson on spirituality. But after Sue gets Kurt to issue a formal complaint to the school board, the glee club is ordered to stop the singing of religious songs.

In Sue's defense, she explains to an irate Emma (the school's guidance counselor) that her belief in God faded during her childhood. Sue looked up to her older sister, who has appeared in past episodes and is mentally retarded. When Sue saw other people laughing at her sister and being rude to her, she prayed to God that her sister would be healed.

After a while, she determined that it "wasn't that I wasn't praying hard enough, it was that no one was listening." In defense of Kurt, she said, "Asking someone to believe in a fantasy, however comforting, is not a normal thing to do. It's cruel."

Rachel gets her chance to sing a religious song when she sings "Papa Can You Hear Me?", a song performed by Barbra Streisand in the film "Yenti." Rachel's performance begins in a park at night as she sits with Finn. The camera is shot from above her, in what looks more like a scene from a movie than a television comedy. It seems out of place for a bit, before the scene changes mid-song to the hospital room where Rachel, Mercedes and Quinn are praying by Burt's bed.

Kurt sees them and angrily tells them to leave. He later expresses his sadness during a glee rehearsal when he sings the Beatles' hit, "I Want To Hold Your Hand." Kurt recalls how his father held his hand during Kurt's mother's funeral. Flashbacks of a younger Kurt with his father are played during the song.

Mercedes invites Kurt to her church where she leads the choir in a version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water." But the songs in this episode aren't all about finding faith. When Emma explains to Finn that God likely did not directly answer his prayers, Finn sings R.E.M.'s hit "Losing My Religion," which was my favorite song of the episode.

"I used to think God was looking out for us, but now I'm not so sure," said Finn, who also noted that he felt everyone "was just floating around in space."

As Emma acknowledges, "The big questions are big for a reason. Everyone struggles with them." Despite the sensitive nature of the topic, I felt the writers did a good job at presenting the different beliefs that are out there and not trying to provide any sort of answer - or even a likely answer to the question of a spiritual being's existence. Joan Osborne's "One Of Us" was a fitting last song for the club to sing.

Kurt does not believe in God but he does acknowledge that he believes in his own father and he believes in their existence together. It is then that Burt begins to wake from his coma. All the audience sees is the subtle movement of his fingers.

Colfer did a tremendous job throughout the episode as a distraught son who also must try to defend his reasons for not believing in a higher power.

The songs in "Grilled Cheesus" were great selections and despite not always being delivered perfectly, still added to the overall theme and plot of the episode.

I was most impressed with the editing in this episode: the shot selection, pace and transitions between scene were noticeably better than the past two weeks.

"Grilled Cheesus" restored my faith (pun intended) in the show, especially because the writers and producers somehow were able to find the perfect balance between comedy and drama in an episode that had a very serious and sensitive topic at its core.